Target Practice {Zero/O'rik}

[Zirin]

Ha ha! Her little trick had worked and, somehow, she had managed to get a sizeable lead. That would surely teach the greenrider to challenge her. Although, it was only through cheating that she had managed this, but he had done it first so it’s not like she could be faulted for it, right? Nym! Something is wrong with Kinuth's! She pulled her head out of the water at her dragon’s words and, confused, glanced behind her.

“O’rik!” She made for shore as quickly as she could, watching in fear as the green pulled his rider from the water and she wasted no time in running to his side. Dropping to her knees she looked over him in panic. She wasn’t a healer! She could do cuts and scrapes sure, but not bites! His lungs were filled with water too weren’t they, oh but he could still breathe if he was coughing right? She rolled him to his side, hoping he would be able to cough up the water but, if he stopped breathing she wouldn’t hesitate to perform cpr.

“Iye! Go get a healer! Hurry!” They needed someone, anyone! All she knew was the snake was poisonous, but was it the type of poison that would kill him? Was there an antidote? Shards, she had never had to worry about serpents up at Fort, it was often too cold for them. The amethyst dragon took off with a roar, making a beeline for camp. He would drag someone back with him if he had to, but they had so few healers and so many injured dragons, what were the chances the dragon would be able to find someone? Oh why in Pern had she gone through with this stupid challenge?

“I don’t know what to do!” She wiped the water from her eyes, not realizing she had begun crying, and continued looking him over. Never had she felt as helpless as she did now, watching O’rik and praying help would come.

[Zero]

Shard it all, if only he could talk! Figures though, with his luck he would be stuck with the one person who didn't know how to treat a snake bite. He made a gurgling sound as the water welled up in his throat and his eyes threatened to roll back in his head and he was nearly on the verge of blacking out till she finally managed to roll him on his side. Almost immediately he began to cough and gasp for air as he tried to force the water out of his lungs but at least he could breath, somewhat, better now.
But he still couldn't talk and time was running out...

His body shuddered as he hacked up a stream of water but then his eyes widened slightly as he realized what he was facing. Desperately, and quite frantically, O'rik struggled to reach for her pile of clothes. He needed a knife! Or, rather, she needed a knife. It wasn't like he was going to be able to dig the fang out on his own here. He was going to need her help, there wasn't time to wait for a healer. As his fingers made contact with the blade he winced as the sharpened steel cut into his soft flesh but forced his hand to close around the blade and drag it back to his side.

Kinuth keened as he watched His struggle and felt His pain but quickly grew quiet as O'rik began to spew orders through their mind-link. Then it clicked to the young green. This has happened before and he knew what to do! Oh oh, IyiathsOwn! Mine tells me you must cut the fang from his leg and then....then force Mine to drink two green-NO no, two blue vials! Oh and hurry! You must hurry!

The green paced anxiously as he spoke directly to the other rider before another mental nudge from Rik reminded him to lay down so she could reach the bag attached to the harness near his neck that held a multitude of different colored, dirty, vials and other random pieces of equipment. An anguished cry tore from the greenriders throat as he flopped on his back and grabbed at her arm with his bleeding hand, desperately trying to force her to take the knife.

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[Zirin]

“If you live through this I’m going to kill you.” She grabbed the knife from him, quickly, not caring if she managed to add another cut to his hand. If there was one thing she liked doing, it was sticking her lovely knives through flesh. Fishing a fang out? Easy! Now that she knew what to do she set to work immediately. She wasn’t so stupid that she didn’t realize how much danger the man was in. Stabbing the dagger into his leg, she hoped he wouldn’t mind a bit more pain; she had no interest in taking her time digging the fang out. Despite her seemingly uncaring attack on his leg, there was a subtle, practiced grace to her movements. She was confident and comfortable with her weapons.

With a quiet ‘aha’ of success she finally found the fang and begun a similar treatment on the other puncture wound, making sure there wasn’t a second fang hidden in his flesh. “I can’t believe you were floating down that river on your own you sharding twat!” She was talking purely to calm herself, not really paying attention to what she was actually saying. Her attention was too focused now on fishing out the proper vials. There was the green one. Shard it, where was the stupid blue one?! She dropped her knife beside the greenrider and doubled her efforts, quickly pulling out the blue vials. Hopefully they were the right ones. She dropped one on the grass before turning back to Or’ik.

“You still alive?” There was worry in her voice of course, but again, it was said for comfort more than anything else. She wanted a cough, a moan, a flail of an appendage; anything that would tell her he hadn’t passed out. She yanked him up to a sitting position and pressed the vial to his lips, praying to Faranth that he could at least manage to drink. At the same time she reached out to Iyiath, asking whether he had been successful, but as of yet the amethyst hadn’t gotten a healer. Well, if this was teaching her anything it was that she would never swim in the river alone. Ever.

[Zero]

Would you believe for a moment he actually thought she might have refused his request to jab a knife in his leg? Or at least hesitate? Oh if O'rik hadn't been half dead already he would have jumped up and murdered his supposed "savior". She didn't even flinch! Just plunged that sharding knife straight into his leg!

His eyes widened and the cry of pain caught in his throat as the steel weapon began to dig around for the blasted little fangs that serpent had left buried in his flesh. She should have counted herself lucky he wasn't able to speak just yet. It felt like an eternity had gone by while she carved away at his flesh, meanwhile he was laying there practically paralyzed. Over time though his eyes began to grow heavy and slowly began to drift shut, only to snap open again when she would speak out loud to him or grab a hold of him for another of her rough administrations.

As she lifted his head and pressed the vial to his lips he tried to resist her. Why couldn't she just let him sleep? It was soo nice and...warm. He never slept well anymore so this was his chance. Why was she trying to stop him? O'rikMine! That's right, he couldn't sleep just yet. O'rik groaned as she forced the vial to his lips once more and his head tilted back enough so the unpleasant tasting liquid could slide down his throat.

A few moments passed in a deathly silence after he had managed to drink both little vials and for a while it seemed like her efforts would have been in vain. Then a spark of life exploded inside the young rider and his body hacked up a mighty cough before his lungs sucked in a fresh, lungful of air. He was alive. He was bleeding, profusely, weak, and shivering, but alive.

"Oh I really hate snakes..." His voice was raspy and a little horse and he struggled to clear his throat through chattering teeth as he glanced to where she was sitting by his side. "You stabbed me! You did and then...not even hesitated for a moment when Kinuth...Kinuth!" Rambling and unable, it seemed, to keep focused O'rik swung his head around to regard the large green head looming over him. "Oh Kinuth, you did such a good job boy! I knew you'd remember and not accidentally let her kill me."

Another, somewhat, violent fit of shivering wracked his body. "I think...think I'm gonna just lay down now..." By lay though he of course meant fall as his back slapped sickly against the muddy ground a moment later. With drooping eyelids and glassed over eyes, Rik gazed almost blankly up at the trees around them. "...I can't feel my leg yet..."

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[Zirin]

Had they been the wrong vials? Nymari watched O'rik, frozen in fear. He had been so noisy only moments before! In fact, from the sounds he had been making she felt like she was sawing his leg off instead of using the tip of the dagger to dig the fang out. Had she inadvertently killed him by forcing the liquid down his throat? Oh shards, if the bastard made her give him some sort of deadly drink she was going to tear him limb from limb! That's it. She had killed him, the first person who understood her and Iyiath... and she had murdered him. She buried her head in her hands in defeat.

But then, as if to make her feel even more a fool, the man had decided to stop tormenting her poor mind and starting coughing. He even spoke! Nymari wanted nothing more than to wrap her arms around him, to feel his heart beating and tell him how worried she had been. Instead though, she crossed her arms in annoyance as he had the audacity to question what she had done.

"Oh I'm sorry, would you have preferred if I kissed it better instead?! Geez, just be thankful." She leaned over and grabbed her shirt, using the now bloody dagger the start a slice in it so she could tear it into bandages. Within moments she was wrapping the strips of cloth around the wounds, hoping it would at least help stop the bleeding until they could drag him off to the healer. She summon Iyiath back, as the amethyst still seemed to be failing at finding a healer to bring back. She brushed the heair out of her eyes, leaving a trail of blood across her forehead. "And stop being a big baby, the holes aren't that big. Idiot."

Truth be told she was still scared, still worried that he would roll over and pass away on the spot. She was a trained killer, sure, but it didn't mean she could handle the death of a friend, if that's what she could call O'rik. She glared at him as he dropped to the ground, and gave a good flick to the forehead. "Don't you dare fall asleep after putting me through that! You stay awake until we get you back to camp. I wont hesitate to use my knives to keep you awake you know. Now.. You don't happen to have a blanket hidden around here somewhere do you?" After all, his clothes were still on the damp side weren't they? Well, if she had things her way she'd steal his shirt to cover herself anyways.